Recreational Observation

East Slopes Central - Lake Chelan to South of I-90

Feb. 12, 2017, noon PST

Weather: Sunny with a thin layer of high clouds. Winds were light from NW, only felt on ridgetop. Air temp was measured at 3.5 C at 11:20, 5400' on a SE aspect.

Snowpack: Below 4000' the crust from 2/9 was on or just below the surface. Above 4k', the 2/9 crust had up to 20cm new snow above it that was well bonded to the crust. Wind deposits, up to 40cm above 2/9, were unreactive. Above 5k' 2/9 was 1cm thick and Pencil hard. At 5800' on a SE slope I found a pair of crusts from mid-January down 100cm and 120cm. Between and below these are rounding facets. A thin layer of larger rounding facets at 100cm gave one CTH Q1 result, but a second CT and an ECT had no results. Sun was affecting the surface of S to SW slopes. SE slopes held onto dry snow and skied well. Tree drip made for poor conditions under canopy.